The benefits of regular exercise have been well established and accepted. However, due to time constraints, inclement weather, and other reasons, many people are prevented from activities such as participating in sports, walking, jogging, running, and swimming. As a result, a variety of exercise equipment has been developed. It is generally desirable to exercise a large number of different muscles over a large range of motion so as to provide for balanced physical development, and to achieve optimum levels of exercise. It is further advantageous for exercise equipment to provide smooth and natural motion, thus avoiding significant jarring and strain that can damage both muscles and joints.
While various exercise systems are known in the prior art, these systems suffer from a variety of shortcomings that limit their benefits and/or include unnecessary risks and undesirable features. For example, stationary bicycles are a popular exercise system in the prior art; however, these machines employ a sitting position that utilizes only a relatively small number of muscles, through a fairly limited range of motion. Cross-country skiing exercise devices are also utilized to simulate the gliding motion of cross-country skiing. While cross-country skiing devices exercise more muscles than stationary bicycles, the substantially flat shuffling foot motion provided by the ski devices limits the range of motion of some of the muscles being exercised.
Treadmills are still a further type of exercise device in the prior art. Treadmills allow natural walking or jogging motions; however, treadmills can enable significant impact loads to be transferred to the hips, knees, ankles, and other joints of a user, particularly when the treadmill is used to simulate running or jogging.
Another type of exercise device simulates stair climbing. Such devices can be composed of foot levers that are pivotally mounted to a frame at their forward ends and have foot-receiving pads at their rearward ends. A user pushes his/her feet down against the foot levers to simulate stair climbing. Resistance to the downward movement of the foot levers is provided by springs, fluid shock absorbers and/or other elements. These devices exercise more muscles than stationary bicycles; however, the rather limited range of up-and-down motion utilized does not exercise the leg muscles of a user through a large range of motion. The substantially vertical reciprocating motion of such stair climbing exercise machines can result in substantial impact loads being applied to the hips, knees, ankles and other joints of a user. Further, the up-and-down reciprocating motion can induce a hyperextension of the knee of a user.
A relatively new class of exercise devices is capable of producing elliptical motion that better simulates the natural stride of a person. Elliptical motion is much more natural and analogous to running, jogging, and walking than the linear-type, back and forth motions produced by some prior art exercise equipment. However, some users find the repetitive elliptical motion occurring about a generally fixed plane to be routine and not stimulating.
One drawback of all these exercise devices is that they do not generally replicate one of the natural human motions employed in many athletic endeavors. In particular, they do not replicate a motion having a forward/rearward component, an upward/down ward component, and a side-to-side component. Stationary bicycles, cross-country skiing simulators, stair climbers, treadmills, and even elliptical devices all utilize a strict front-to-back or striding type motion. What would thus be advantageous would be an exercise device that emulates a natural human movement that includes not only front-to-back motion but also side-to-side and up-and-down motions.
In the prior art, various attempts have been made to utilize the use of side-to-side motion instead of a front-to-back walking or striding type motion. In contrast to the aforementioned cross-country skiing simulator that utilizes a striding motion, various devices attempt to simulate the experience of downhill skiing. While these devices do incorporate some limited side-to-side motion, these devices have not been met with general commercial approval as not offering a high level downhill skiing simulation while being unyielding and cumbersome to use. Some attempts to utilize side-to-side motion instead of a front-to-back walking or striding type motion have overcompensated and are limited to strict side-to-side motion; these, however, do no better in simulating the actual human experience of such exercise activates as downhill skiing, ice-skating, in-line roller skating, etc.
Further, many of prior art devices, in particular stationary bicycles, stair climbers and treadmills, do not provide a total body exercise incorporating the upper body of a user. Accordingly, such prior art devices provide a user with the ability to exercise and develop his or her upper body muscles.
Accordingly, a continuing need exists for an exercise device that provides a natural fluid exercise motion incorporating side-to-side, up-and-down, and front and back movement with a user-defined stride length. There is also a need for an exercise device that enables a user to exercise muscles in a smooth natural manner over a large range of motion, without applying undesirable impact loads to the joints of a user. It would be desirable for such an exercise device to be configured for convenient use in a relatively confined space even in inclement weather. It would also be desirable to provide an exercise device incorporating this unique natural three directional movement in combination with an upper body exercise assembly to provide a complete total body exercise device. Further, a continuing need also exists for an exercise device that provides a unique engaging motion and is fun to use.